2012 April Fools Hack

The 2012 April Fools Hack was an event that took place on April 1, 2012, that involved the compromising of the Roblox website, as well as several site issues, which concluded in the website being taken offline for a brief period of time. While there was no actual hacking of the website, the event was widely referred to as such during and after it took place.

The horrid April Fools joke of 2012 on ROBLOX. ( Hack )

A video describing what happened

Contents

Suspected Timeline of Events

On April 1, 2012, an unknown user caused what would become the website's most notable "hacking". It involved the currency system and item catalogue, the use of the warning banner, and unauthorized user promotions. It is unknown how the perpetrator was able to access Roblox's administrative system. In a 2017 Reddit comment, Gordonrox24, a former moderator, noted that "It was nothing... You won't see it happen again".[1]

The suspected precursor to the event was a forum discussion that deteriorated into an argument between Minish and Merely involving money and the economy of Roblox. It is alleged that Minish's account was taken over by the unknown user[citation needed]. Minish bought Merely's famous Domino Crown, which was Merely's personal favourite catalogue item. The forums soon exploded with threads discussing the events. As a result, the two users were each given bans. This would also lead to Merely briefly quitting Roblox.

Soon afterwards, users Pheedy and are17, both accounts under the control of the unknown user, became moderators and used their elevated privileges to un-ban Minish. The prices of hats in the catalog went down tremendously during this time, and hats were released by the minute for 1 Robux. Some of the names of the hats were changed, such as Explosive Hair being changed to Rocket Hair, Hooded Spacelord to Noob Hood, and Mementero Mori to Candle Skull.

Banners were added to the top of the site and frequently changed colours and displayed objectionable content. Examples include "thank you minish for messing up the economy. nub." and "always share your passwords with strangers, kids!", "Haha these are so funny let's go spam the forums about them :D", "Remember kids tell your parents to vote Ron Paul", "Yo gonna give a shout out to the homies in dah hood", "Do A Barrel roll", and "I'm the annoying orange banner. AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH".

Multiple users were granted large amounts of ROBUX throughout the event. Although most of these accounts were apparently rolled back, although it is speculated that some users managed to evade losing the entirety of their newfound wealth. An example of one of these users is Misteroe, who managed to evade a ban and successfully trade away and launder an estimated 100,000 to 300,000 ROBUX. There is also some speculation that Misteroe was directly involved with the event, although there is little proof to back this up.

It is speculated that 1dev2s account was one of the accounts that were also compromised. Many items were put into his inventory and during the event, and his avatar was changed multiple times. His account was subsequently terminated by a moderator. This ban was never revoked, but 1dev2 was possibly allowed temporary access into his account after the event, which during that time, he uncopylocked his game "Welcome to the Town of Robloxia".

Roblox's Response

After all this activity occurred, Roblox staff brought the site offline and reported that they were attempting to patch up the currency system. The website was brought back online during the late evening of April 1. The Trade Currency system and Roblox Catalog were offline until the following evening.

In a Roblox Blog post on April 2, it was announced that "(Roblox) experienced a site issue the evening of April 1st..., and (they) took the site offline". They noted that "Several assets were released from (the catalog) backlog that were not ready for production", and "Several accounts were incorrectly granted large amounts of Robux; some of these Robux were subsequently traded with other accounts." One confirmed user to benefit from the large influx of artificial Robux was Misteroe, although it is not clear if this is statement is directly referencing him. Some catalog and currency transactions were audited and rollbacked, and they estimated the rollbacks occurred in fever than 0.01% of Roblox accounts.[2] Some items were updated with new pricing, while other items were taken off-sale. The "c:" face was changed to "Dr. Smyth Face" and was temporarily available for purchase.

Gallery

Briguy9876 stating that this "April Fools prank" wasn't a prank by Roblox.

The c: face was one of many faces released by the individuals.

An event banner saying "Thank you Minish for messing up the economy. Nub."

An event banner requesting that people go and spam the forums.

An event banner saying "I'm the annoying orange banner".

A forum post by are17, who was one of two users to randomly become a moderator.

The Roblox website shutdown page at the time of the hack.

A post by Chro, one of several staff accounts that was hacked. Profanity has been edited out.

If the ID of the c: face is put into a face changer or mannequin the Dr. Smyth Face displays instead.